![]() Kool & The Gang weren’t stylistic swashbucklers like Ohio Players or the Parliament/Funkadelic nexus they didn’t define their era like Nile Rodgers. Despite the fact that the pairing only made sense in Diamond Dave’s mind, they were quite well-received. K&TG made industry headlines in 2012 when David Lee Roth tapped them to be the opening act for Van Halen. But like any act of their caliber and longevity, they can always earn their meals on the road. Kool & The Gang rounded up a bunch of never-were rappers to fill out their reworked hits on Gangland, and we’re done talking about that. 1989’s Sweat was a quixotic attempt to adapt to the times, but with Taylor (and now Bayyan) gone, the result sounded like the work of a completely different act. By then, though, Taylor had gone solo, and the combination of hip-hop and New Jack shooed Kool & The Gang’s brand of black pop off the mainstream airwaves. The band was still charting high until 1987. Their arrangements largely eschewed the harder stuff in favor of lush keybeds and Taylor’s bright, direct tenor, and the change paid off handsomely. The follow-up record featured “Celebration,” their only chart-topper. Ladies’ Night was the Gang’s first Top 20 album, yielding their first Top 10 hits in five years. Taylor, as well as the band’s first record produced by Brazilian bossa nova/samba/fusion legend Eumir Deodato. That year was more pivotal for a couple other reasons, however: the Ladies’ Night LP was the debut of lead vocalist J.T. By the early ’70s, the funk had taken over, and K&TG notched their first major pop hits: “Funky Stuff,” “Jungle Boogie,” and “Hollywood Swinging.” In 1979, they won their only Grammy by virtue of their appearance on the Saturday Night Fever juggernaut. By the time they issued their self-titled debut on De-Lite Records in 1969, the rechristened Kool & The Gang were a sterling instrumental combo in the mold of Booker T. Originally known at the Jazziacs, the Jersey City act cut its teeth in local jazz clubs, later earning its R&B apprenticeship as the live band for a number of local soul acts. The “Kool” in Kool & The Gang is bassist/singer Robert “Kool” Bell, who founded the first incarnation of the group with his brother, Khalis Bayyan (born Ronald Bell) when they were in high school. The secret to Kool & The Gang’s pollination is contained in their lifespan: not just that their catalog stretches across 44 years, but that they worked in so many styles, from soul jazz to hard funk, touching on disco before finding their commercial groove as a pop-funk act. Even after clearance issues made sampling a high-priced hobby, Kool & The Gang were still never far from musicians’ fingertips: namechecked by Kevin Barnes and Rogue Wave, covered by My Morning Jacket, haunting (with a host of other funk/disco luminaries) Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. State Of Mind” walks on the deep-pocket groove of a live break on “N.T.” The nearly subliminal keys and synth whine on “Summer Madness” are an industry unto themselves, with one or both appearing on classic cuts from Rodney O and Joe Cooley, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Aaliyah, and (most famously) DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Tone Capone made a couple of horn blats from “Jungle Boogie” even more elephantine on Luniz’s “I Got 5 On It.” The halftime strut of Nas’ “N.Y. On their official website, they claim to be “the most sampled band of all time” - I’m not sure if anyone keeps tabs on that sort of thing, but it feels about right. But perhaps more so than any act of their - or any - era, Kool & The Gang entered the canon via their eminently sampleable discography. Chic’s absence from the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame has been decried as a tragedy for years running the Gang have been eligible since 1994, but any advocacy on their behalf - they’ve never been nominated - is a murmur. If you’re prone to checking out, you may have noticed that Kool & The Gang have but one song in the top 6000: 1980’s “Celebration,” nestled at #3383, between Fuck Buttons’ “Olympians” and Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” The Gap Band have three songs on the list the O’Jays have four. ![]()
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